Survey on assisted dying

For those of you who support a change in the law to allow medically assisted dying in the UK, we should like to draw to your attention to the fact that the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has launched a survey on assisted dying and may support reforming the law if enough GPs support changing their stance. Earlier this year, when the Royal College of Physicians dropped their opposition to assisted dying, our politicians took note.

“Changing the RCGP’s stance on assisted dying could be decisive in our campaign. Their views are taken into account not only by politicians, but also the Courts. Please act quickly – we only have until 13 December to change the RCGP’s stance from ‘opposed’ to ‘in support’ (although even changing to a ‘neutral’ stance will be beneficial).”

You may therefore want to write to your GP and ask them to support changing the College’s stance in support of assisted dying. Below is a possible form of letter you might like to use, but personalised letters are preferable to avoid any GP getting multiple similar ones that will lose impact.

MDMD is a member of the Assisted Dying Coalition, which includes Humanists UK. If you would like to join or support MDMD, you can find more information here: https://www.mydeath-mydecision.org.uk/

Dear Dr ,

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) is surveying its members on the topic of assisted dying.

I hope you don’t mind me writing to you, but as your patient, it is vital that I can have an open and honest conversation with you about death, including the implications of any incurable illnesses, my quality of life, available treatment such as palliative care, and whether I am informed about the realities of an assisted death abroad.

I’m asking you to support legal, compassionate, and safeguarded assisted dying for both the terminally ill and incurably suffering, like nearly 90% of the public agree we should. One person a week, despite palliative care, is now forced to travel from the UK to end their life abroad, and I don’t think this is right.